Geez MG, how long is the proverbial piece of string. Their really are no hard and fast rules to this game. What works in one instance may or may not be transferable and replicated over and over. The inevitable falling over or break down over the long term of mechanical selection sytems is testament to this fact. However that is just my thinking and others will vehemently disagree.

Furthermore, (using your example) to say that horse 4 and 7 won last start and therefore should be the focal points of your efforts is also incorrect, again JMO. Ultimately form guides will tell you about past performance. It is then up to you to try and use this information to assess todays race in the hope of correctly ascertaining the winner. Sometimes you are correct and unfortunately sometimes not. But just because the horse won its last start does not mean it is going to beat Makybe Diva at a mile and a half today. Even if it is better off in the weights and has drawn a nice barrier. Obviously distance is more of a factor (IMO) as i would not expect Takeover Target to beat Makybe Diva in the Melbourne Cup. Extreme example but this is just to illustrate a point.

You should try and approach each race individually and evaluate each horse on its merits in conjunction with the factors you have mentioned and then some. As many as you think are applicable and experience plays a big part here too. And after all that you know what, you can and will find that you still made the wrong selection, but that's racing. But you'll learn quickly should you make a concerted effort. Then again i must admit i am a form student and not a system type guy. Either way i don't believe their are any shortcuts in this game, on that point i think we'll all agree. I'm sorry if this is not the answer you are looking for but i hope i have made some sense and this helps.

Best of luck.

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